christopher price

Caserio talks draft philosophy

INDIANAPOLIS — The Patriots have never been about making a big splash at the annual NFL Scouting Combine.

There are some coaches, GMs and players you can’t help but notice. On Friday afternoon, new Redskins coachMike Shanahan had a sizable entourage around him when he entered, while Florida quarterback Tim Tebow touched off a small riot when he arrived for his session with the media.

But late Friday morning, Patriots Director of Player Personnel Nick Caserio was so unassuming in his arrival for a Q&A, most national media didn’t know he had even been in the building until after he had left. His 30-minute session with a handful of New England media — which took place next to an ATM on an out-of-the-way concourse at Lucas Oil Stadium — touched on a wide variety of topics, including his thoughts on some of the deepest areas of this year’s draft. (For a transcript of the entire session, click here.)

Caserio pointed to the safeties, as well as the offensive and defensive tackles, as being a particularly deep group this year. But more than anything else, he says this is a good year for what he calls the “conversion players.”

That should mean good things for the Patriots, who have traditionally gone after those kinds of players and used them (or tried to use them) as edge rushers. But many of those guys available this year are not the type of classic conversion players whom New England traditionally covets — taller types in the mold of Willie McGinest (6-foot-5, 270 pounds).

While the Patriots have swung and missed on those types of outside guys in recent years, shorter, stouter players like Elvis Dumervil (5-foot-11, 260 pounds, 17 sacks in 2009) and James Harrison (6 feet, 242 pounds, 16 sacks in 2008) have flourished at that spot … after being passed over by the Patriots in the draft.

That being said — and with conversion types at the combine like Michigan’s Brandon Graham (6-foot-2, 263 pounds) who may not be classic New England-style hybrids but had great success in college with 20 sacks in two years — is this the year the Patriots tweak their approach when it comes to looking for edge rushers?

“I think that’s an interesting point, because the reality is that pool of players, the 6-4, 260-pound guys that run 4.6, there's not many of them,” Caserio said. “Some of the small guys … like, I think Dumervil is a great example. A 5-11, 260-pound guy … maybe he's not the prototypical outside linebacker type, but he can rush the passer.

“There’s different ways to skin a cat. You’re looking for this ideal. The reality is that sometimes that ideal is hard to find.”

One of the reasons those ideals are so hard to find these days — no matter the body type — is that more and more teams are playing a 3-4 defense these days. Caserio estimated that “half the league is employing some 3-4 type of configuration.”

“It is becoming more challenging,” he said, “because there are more teams that are essentially looking at the same pool of players, so it kind of limits your opportunities, because you realize you’re really competing really with the rest of the league on that front.”

Greg and Chris talk with Mike Reiss from ESPN Boston in hour 2 of NFL Sunday to discuss a variety of offseason happenings with the Pats and throughout the league. Greg and Chris also get into the NFL Draft and where Mariota and Winston will go.

Mike Reiss calls the guys to talk about the offseason news for the Pats. He talks about the Pats/Jets tampoering fiasco, free agency, where he sees Ridley and Connolly ending up, if the Patriots would be interested in Reggie Wayne and more.

In the first hour of the show, Greg and Chris discuss the news coming out of the owners' meetings this week and rule changes. Belichick's blow-up over the league not wanting to spend on endzone cameras was well documented and the guys react. They also talk about the Jets ridiculous tampering charges, free agents still lingering out there, where Stevan Ridley will land and the RB position in New England. Dickerson and Price briefly discuss the adventures of Tom Brady before being joined by WEEI.com's Mike Petraglia to talk all things Pats in the offseason.

Flannery joins Mut to break down the Isaiah Thomas trade to Boston and what it means for the Celtics this season and in the future. Paul also chats with Mut about the other deals that happened at the NBA's trading deadline

Mut, Tomase, and Bradford kick things off talking about Shane Victorino taking offense to people reading into some comments he made about trading for Cole Hamels. They also discuss Blake Swihart and how soon he could be up if Christian Vazquez starts the season on the DL.

Joe Kelly joined the Hot Stove show where he talked about being ready for his next spring training start after a biceps ailment forced him out of his last outing, he talks about his NCAA brackets and how teammate Wade Miley has a perfect bracket still.

Peter Chiarelli joined the Sunday Skate crew to talk about the Bruins playoff push heading into the final handful of games of the regular season. Chiarelli talked about avoiding some of the overly negative feedback he gets while realizing that the team does have real issues. He discusses what went down at the trade deadline and if he was happy with the outcome, Lucic having a down year and underperforming, the salary cap and if he considers it as big of an issue as it's been made out to be and what the future holds for the team.

It's a big hour #2 for the Sunday Skate dudes - they talk about the B's defenseman and what the future looks like at that position, with both moves the team can make and younger guys in the AHL. They also get into the Bruins philosophy on bringing guys up and sending them back down and how players deal with that. Finally, the boys are joined by Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli to discuss EVERYTHING.

The Sunday Skate crew gets the show going discussing the Bruins big, impressive victory over the NY Rangers yesterday. What can you take from that game? According to LB - Lyndon Byers - who called the guys from the road, not a lot. LB drops a dime on what was going on with the Rangers yesterday. DJ and Joe discuss Claude's lines and groupings and the importance of Ryan Spooner. They also get into Lucic, his contributions this year and if he can turn things around.

With the Wells report seemingly wrapping up (we hope), Tim and Lou got to talking about possible fines and punishments the Patriots must face. It's possible that the Patriots will face a small fine, but should they take that laying down? The conversation brings out a little passion from BOTH sides.